The batizado of Bumba-meu-boi da Floresta was especially meaningful, and sad, this year. The founder and leader of the group for over 40 years had died the previous week. This leading Baixada group, based in a bairro of Sao Luis, holds a private baptism on June 23-24 — in the heritage manner. The ceremony begins late in the evening in the group’s headquarters (sede), and the boi is baptized after midnight after prayers and hymns in a long liturgy. The group then enters the street in a procession that lasts into the early hours of the morning.
The recently-deceased leader, Mestre Apolonio Melonio, died at the age of 96. He joined Humberto de Maracana, another iconic figure of the BmB, who died only a few months before. Just a few years before that Maranhao’s popular culture lost Terezinha Jansen, leader of Boi de Fe em Deus, who died in 2008.
As the older generation of founders and leaders leaves the scene, leadership is passing to a new group of leaders who are often women and products of a more modern and urbanized Maranhao. This is especially true for groups in Sao Luis, the capital city, but even groups in the interior find that their survival depends on adapting to the needs of modern government, media and commercial organization.
The batizado honored tradition, but also honored the passing of a member of the older generation and another step in the transition in the transformation and modernization of the festival.
For years much of the management of the group been shared by Mestre Apolonio with his wife Nadir Cruz. Now Nadir, her daughter Talyene Melonio, and the senior members of Floresta are adjusting to the new era of the group.
